“Perseverance is the most important thing.”

 In episode 44, Sham chats with Suzana about the work she is doing in Mozambique to empower female entrepreneurs, why she started this venture, and what she has learned along the way across her three different career paths.

Background:

Suzana hails from South Africa and started her company in Mozambique. Suzana is currently focused on the development of a pan-African virtual aggregation platform. She is keen on supporting innovative tech solutions in the emerging markets. She is the CEO of MOWOZA. MOWOZA is creating a digital retail network, powered by blockchain, to structure the informal retail supply chain in Africa so that micro and small businesses can benefit from increased efficiencies.

Show recap:

  • Mowoza works with micro and small entrepreneurs and focused on women who work with small shops – low number of products and low valued products. It takes these women a long time to take the next steps in their businesses.

  • Mowoza provides a new way to access these business and the way they run these shops.

  • Suzana set up Mowoza three years ago. She was traveling through Morocco where she saw ladies carrying large packages of products from Spain all the way to Morocco. Sometimes as much as 80kg of products on their backs.

  • She researched the issue and decided that this was the space she wanted to be involved with.

  • Suzana did her MBA in London and prior to that worked in infrastructure like Terminal 5 of Heathrow. She came to change her mind through her MBA and eventually made her change.

  • When she first started, women were rather apprehensive about using their mobile phones and now the ask is from the ladies themselves.

  • There is now brand recognition since the company first came to the market.

  • Her work brings business literacy to the women through sms, tips on how to run businesses better, teach the ladies how to keep track of their transactions better, and finally a mobile application which acts like e-commerce but in a simplified version.

  • She is currently on the FLane Vodafone Accelerator based out of Berlin, Germany.

  • She heads back to Mozambique soon and hopes to reach more ladies to work with on a storytelling mission.

  • She thinks everything she has learnt can be used in any context – she has changed career paths three times now – she has been in three different industries.

  • If you are learning to improve, it is then magical.

  • She considers it challenging to manage a team and delegate to the team. She finds handing over decision making to others rather difficult.

“If you are learning to improve, it is then magical.”


Connect with Suzana

If you would like to hear more about the FLane Vodafone Accelerator for Women Empowerment, check out their website.